Melbourne Victory and Western Sydney Wanderers played out a fiery 1-1 draw at Etihad Stadium in round 18 action of the A-League.
Super sub Brendon Santalab continued his run of scoring late goals with his 89th minute strike. The beautiful shot from just outside the box ultimately earned the Wanderers a point, keeping them on top of the table on goal difference.
Tensions were high in this game, with an early pyrotechnics show from the travelling supporters pausing the match briefly. The delay benefited the Victory with Besart Berisha scoring his 14th goal of the season from Kosta Barbarouses’ corner almost immediately after play resumed.
The game belonged to the Wanderers with Tony Popovic’s team dominating possession for large portions of the contest while Melbourne struggled to burst forward with any real vigour or frequency.
The match hit its fiery climax in second half injury time with players from both sides pushing and shoving in Danny Vukovic’s goal; Alberto Aguilar was sent off.
Formations
Victory were forced into making some changes due to the suspensions of Rashid Mahazi and Fahid Ben Khalfallah. Connor Pain came into the starting XI to replace Khalfallah, while Thomas Deng was replaced by Nick Ansell and Daniel Georgievski made way for Scott Galloway.
The Wanderers only made the one change with Jaushua Sotirio dropping to the bench to make room for Romeo Castelen.
Both sides played in 4-3-3 formations.
Wanderers’ midfield dominance
Western Sydney were dominant for large portions of this match. The second half in particular saw the Wanderers seemingly hold the ball exclusively in their attacking half, with Victory breaking forward sporadically.
The away side had 62.2% of possession for the entire match, and while that statistic on its own is enough to highlight how dominant the Wanderers were, when you look at where this possession was held, it proves the point further.
As seen above, Western Sydney comprehensively out-possessed the Victory. Melbourne barely made any successful passes into their box and struggled to transition from defence into attack as seen by the lack of passes in the middle of the park between the halfway line and the 18 yard box.
The Wanderers on the other hand, seemingly covered every inch of grass and passed the ball well.
The only consolation Victory can take from this is how well their defence stood up to the pressure being applied by the Wanderers; the stats suggest Western Sydney could have annihilated Melbourne.
Victory playing to defend?
Following Besart Berisha’s 16th minute goal, Victory appeared to be content with simply defending their slim advantage. Further to that, the Wanderers did not allow them many opportunities to try and add to their lead.
Melbourne’s defence were consistently under the pump but they handled it incredibly well. The Wanderers had 15 shots on goal but Vukovic only made five saves, meaning the players in front of him were playing their part in trying to stop the Western Sydney attack.
Victory’s defence had to make 36 clearances, only five of which came outside of the box, to the Wanderers’ six. Melbourne also made 36 intercepts, only five of which occurred in their attacking half, to Wanderer’s 24, as well as 20 blocks to the Wanderers’ nine.
In the end, Victory almost made it through the match without succumbing to the Wanderers’ constant attacking pressure. Whether or not this is viewed as a positive or negative fact remains to be seen.
Use of width
The changes to Victory’s line up meant that they were playing with four genuinely pacey players in their wide areas – Barbarouses and Geria on the right wing and Pain and Galloway on the left. However, Melbourne rarely utilised the spaces out wide, let alone the pace that was at their disposal to try and overload the wings, try overlapping runs and force Western Sydney’s fullbacks into situations where they were outnumbered.
Victory’s quartet of wide players rarely got anywhere near the 18 yard box, with Geria and Barbarouses pushing forward more so than Pain and Galloway – of course this may have something to do with the fact that the former pair have been playing regularly while the latter pair both made their first starting appearances for the season in this game.
The Wanderers’ wide men, particularly their fullbacks Neville and Jamieson, were much more active, as seen above, with their passing map looking to be more effective than all four of the Victory wide players.
Further to that, Western Sydney put in 35 crosses to the Victory’s eight. While a large number of these were unsuccessful, they were able to use that wide space and heap pressure on the Victory defence.
Melbourne Victory Conclusion
Victory can take some comfort in how well they defended for a majority of the match but will be disappointed that they were not that threatening going forward – something that has become a trademark of this team. Victory’s next three weeks are incredibly difficult, with matches against Melbourne City, Adelaide and Sydney as well as their first ACL match. How they handle themselves will be fascinating to watch.
Western Sydney Wanderers Conclusion
The Wanderers will have expected more from this game. They have more than enough quality in the side to have put the Victory to the sword considering the amount of possession they had and how many chances they created. However, the point is still useful and they remain on top of the table heading into games against the Phoenix, as well as the third Sydney derby of the season.
What are your thoughts? Let us know by dropping a comment below via our Facebook comment box. Make sure you follow us on Twitter @Outside90 and like us on Facebook.
